Addendum
by MaggieMay19
Summary: "There has been plenty of speculation in the media regarding the identity of the serial killer known as Red John. The truth is that we will never know for certain."


FBI document reference: 1534/298/375432:2015-02-21

Author: Special Agent M. Waring

Date: 02/21/2015

Summary of contents: Addendum to Appendix xi of document 1534/298/375432 (Red John files)

Title: The true identity of Thomas McAllister (alias Red John)

CONFIDENTIAL - FOR FBI USE ONLY

Begins: There has been plenty of speculation in the media regarding the identity of the serial killer known as Red John. The truth is that we will never know for certain.

We do know that Thomas McAllister was born and died in Michigan on April 10th 1969.[1] The murderer known as Red John stole his identity, along with those of hundreds (possibly thousands[2]) of other dead infants across the country from the 1980s[3] until his death. Red John's earliest criminal activity of which we can be certain consisted of selling new identities to fugitives and criminals[4] and dates to this period. He was probably in his teens[5] at this point in time and already making extensive use of fake identities himself. He was then known to the people who used his services as 'Roy Guareschi'[6], itself a stolen identity.

At this point we must consider the most notorious of the recent speculations in the media about Red John's true identity. Webster[7] sensationally theorized in his book that Red John was in fact Warren Mapleton[8].

The kidnap, torture and murder of three year old Paul Brooks by Mapleton and his friend Dumar Tanner when they were themselves only nine years old shocked the nation in 1978. While it is true that Red John's earliest verified accomplice was Dumar's younger brother Orville Tanner[9], and that Orville's son (also named Dumar Tanner but at the time going by the alias Sheriff Ted Hardy[10]) later became another accomplice of Red John, this is at best circumstantial evidence for his true identity being Mapleton. We can be certain that Red John knew the Tanner family; however it is more likely that he sought them out because of their connection to the Brooks murder than his being Warren Mapleton.

Indeed the fact that Roy Guareschi was free to sell new identities just five years after the Brooks murder, during the time that Mapleton was incarcerated[11], would seem to refute the idea that they were the same person. Webster's hypothesis in his book is fanciful bordering on the supernatural regarding this issue.

Mapleton died in 1985[12] while in prison. As all three Tanners are also now dead and Mapleton's prison records were lost – along with tens of thousands of others – in the Sacramento floods of 1987[13], [14], it is probable that we will never know for certain the true identity of Red John.

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[1] Document 1534/JR/4/254113 (confirmation letter from the Wayne County PRO)

Document 1534/JR/4/342665 (duplicate birth certificate from the Wayne County PRO)

Document 1534/JR/4/223651 (duplicate death certificate from the Wayne County PRO)

Mary Kelly of the Public Records Office, Wayne County, Michigan confirmed the duplicate birth certificate found in McAllister's personal records was not a forgery. She subsequently provided a copy of the death certificate, all documents located together in evidence box JR/4

[2] Physical evidence boxes 1534/JR/8 thru 1534/JR/19. As of the date of this addendum only boxes JR/8 thru JR/10 have been completely processed (around 130 identities). All the potential fake ids are being investigated as part of case ref. 5622/BA (the search for members of the Blake Association and other accomplices) but the boxes remain the property of case 1534/JR (this investigation). Information pertaining to every identity is being cross-referenced across multiple agencies (see [4] below) .

[3] Document 1534/JR/9/563872. The earliest request date we have found so far for a copy of a dead infant's birth certificate is 11/10/1982.

[4] All hard copies were found in a hidden basement under McAllister's second house, itself registered under yet another alias. The earliest stolen identities were used by McAllister himself or sold to criminals e.g. case ref. 7990/CF was solved when we tracked down one of the stolen identities that he didn't use personally. We finally found Carter!

[5] Document 1534/173/343323. The autopsy of Red John estimated his age at death between 40 and 50. We can tentatively narrow this down but only using circumstantial evidence: the date-of-birth range of the fake identities used personally by McAllister would suggest he was probably born between 1967 and 1971.

[6] e.g. document 6454/211/443675. 'Roy Guareschi' was named as the provider of Zimmerman's new identity by Wolz. His name came up a lot in the early eighties but that kind of cross-checking of records wasn't possible with the computer systems of the time. Special Agent Hu concluded that Guareschi was too tangential to the Zimmerman case to merit further investigation. Action ref. 1534/298/843755: check Hu for BA connections.

[7] Paul Webster, "The Real Red John", Random House, 2014, ISBN 4535-6522351

[8] Case 2132/MW. I would strongly recommend that you only read the case summary.

[9] Case 3756/TO. Orville Tanner was convicted for what we now believe to have been Red John's third murder. MO was knife attack but different cutting pattern and no graffiti painted in blood meant the case was never connected to Red John until the SCU of the CBI (consultant: Patrick Jane) made the tentative connection in 2008 as part of the re-opened Renfrew case (CBI/34251) – by which time Tanner was deceased.

[10] Document 1534/JR/49/344371, CBI case ref. CBI/37441, kidnap of Emma and Maya Plaskett, murder of Emma by Red John with Dumar Tanner Jr. as his accomplice.

[11] Document 1534/JR/20/182254, duplicate of a copy of disciplinary report for prisoner 31465 Mapleton dated 6/13/1984 ref. HCP/Juv/31465. This form had been mis-filed and was re-discovered upon the release of another prisoner. It is the only surviving fragment of Mapleton's prison record.

[12] Document 1534/JR/20/182254, duplicate of coroner's copy of the autopsy of Warren Mapleton, ref. HCP/Juv/31465 (lost).

[13] Sacramento Bee, 11/23/1987, p1, "Floods threaten Thanksgiving".

[14] Sacramento Bee, 12/03/1987 p7 "Prison records lost in recent floods".

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Note added 8/27/2015 by Supervisory Agent Dennis Abbott:

Waring here seems very certain we will never identify Red John. Action 1534/298/843799 initiated: check Special Agent M. Waring for possible Blake Association connection.


End file.
